‘Snow wedding’ lifts spirit of tourism in Kashmir
The wedding of Australians Tim Robertson and Kate Hamilton took place on Thursday at St Mary’s church in Gulmarg. It was the first in over three decades wedding bells ring at Kashmir’s oldest Protestant Church.
The couple were adorned in traditional Indian attire; dozens of foreign skiers wearing Kashmiri Pherans were guests, local priests and snow all around.
Tim Robertson and Kate Hamilton described their wedding as ‘nothing less than a fairy tale’, after the pictures shot at the snow-bound 100-year-old St. Mary’s Church were widely shared by local residents.
Engaged for a year and fond of snowboarding, it took the couple six months to plan the wedding in Gulmarg. “That day (last year), we were snowboarding back home and we decided to get married. But then Kate wanted a white wedding and in the mountains,” said Tim. A friend of Kate’s who organizes skiing trips to Kashmir was roped in and a year later, their wish was fulfilled.
Most guests arrived on skis and kept warm with the kangri, a pot of hot embers. The temperature in Gulmarg has been minus 10° Celsius at night. “A local gifted me a scarf on the occasion. It was very touching,” said Hamilton.
Kashmiri music and local cuisine were highlights of the wedding. Robertson said they had been planning a ‘white wedding’ in the mountains. “I am glad we decided to have it in Gulmarg. The place has spectacular mountains and the warmest people,” he said.
Gulmarg St. Mary’ ChurchFormer Chief Minister and National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah also wished the couple, while sharing the wedding pictures on twitter.
“A destination wedding with a difference. Nice to see some of the wedding party on skis. 30 years since the last one, Gulmarg’s historic church plays host to another wedding,” he tweeted.
Nazir Ahmad, a tour operator, said the viral pictures of the wedding had come as a shot in the arm for the tourism industry, which has suffered due to militancy in the Valley.
The wedding of the Australian couple at snow-filled Gulmarg has lifted the spirits of the flagging tourism industry in Kashmir, where tourists’ footfall has recently seen an unprecedented decline. The pictures of the couple went viral on the Internet on Saturday, putting the spotlight back on the destination, just 55 km from Srinagar.